“Behind Bars: The Unexpected Decision That United a Judge and His Sentenced Man for a Night”

In a world where the justice system often feels more like a high-stakes game than a supportive environment, one North Carolina judge took a truly unexpected approach. Picture this: a man sentenced to spend a night in jail finds himself not alone, but rather with the very judge who handed down the sentence. This bizarre yet heartwarming tale centers on Joseph Serna, a military veteran with a harrowing past shaped by both valor and trauma, and Judge Lou Olivera, a fellow veteran who understood the weight of Serna’s struggles. Instead of just playing the role of an enforcer of law, Judge Olivera chose to step into the arena of empathy, reminding us all that even within the confines of a jail cell, kindness can break down walls… literally. So, how exactly did a night intended for accountability morph into a shared human experience? Dive into this remarkable story that challenges our perceptions of punishment and connection. LEARN MORE.

A judge once sentenced a man to spend a night in jail and then joined him in his cell.

In 2016, North Carolina man Joseph Serna was sentenced to spend a night in jail after he admitted that he lied about a urine test for a treatment program he’d been in due to being charged with driving under the influence.

Serna, a military veteran, had been a decorated soldier and almost died multiple times, including an incident from which he was the sole survivor where the truck he was riding in toppled into water and started filling up.

Nobody else made it out alive and, like many veterans, Serna struggled with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his experiences in the military.

When he was charged with driving under the influence he was placed into the veteran’s treatment court program in Cumberland County, with fellow veteran Judge Lou Olivera presiding over it.

The judge had been supervising him and decided he needed someone in the cell with him (CBS)

Serna appeared before Olivera multiple times before admitting that he lied about the urine test and was sentenced to a short stay in jail.

Given his past experiences Serna was concerned about being kept in enclosed spaces and the jail cell would certainly qualify as that, as he told CBS he started feeling ‘anxiety’ once he was put into the cell.

When the man was taken to his cell he was surprised to see the judge who had sent him there joining him shortly afterwards.

The judge said that Serna ‘had to be held accountable’, explaining: “I knew what Joe was going through, and I knew Joe’s history. He had to be held accountable, but I just felt I had to go with him. I felt I had to go with him.”

Serna said he ‘started feeling this anxiety’ once he’d been locked in his cell, but a few minutes later the judge joined him to sit, eat and spend the time together.

The judge joined the man he’d sentenced in his cell (CBS)

“We talked about our families, and the walls just, they didn’t exist anymore,” Serna said.

“He brought me back to North Carolina from being in a truck in Afghanistan.”

After serving his sentence, Serna embraced the judge who had spent the night with him and promised not to let him down.

Judge Olivera isn’t the only judge to use unorthodox methods in his job.

When a man was found guilty in court for the crime of beating his infant daughter to death the judge asked him what sentence he’d give to the person who had killed the baby.

The man, protesting his innocence, then said ‘if you ever find out who did it, they deserve to be under the jail’, and after clarifying that this meant he’d support the maximum sentence the judge then told him that’s exactly what he’d be getting.

Two rather different sides of the criminal justice system, there.